The Art of Bloodborne

It's finally here. The Gothic-horror hack n' slashing action-RPG Bloodborne is finally here. The spiritual successor to Hidetaka Miyazaki's previous franchise, the Souls series (Demons Souls and Dark Souls),  Bloodborne thrusts you into the role of a demon hunter ensnared within the towering monoliths and choked alleyways of ancient city besieged by a mysterious disease that transforms the weak of will and mind into monstrous abominations.

One of the most highly-anticipated titles to come out on the PS4 this year, the pre-release reviews for the game have joined together in almost unanimous choir of praise for the relentlessness and depth of its combat and the gorgeous creepiness of its art-style, owed entirely to the part of From Software's in-house roster of talented concept artists.

From Software is a very mysterious company, trying to find a list of credits of concept art and direction contributors to their latest gaming opus has been about as perilous as contending with the fell-beasts of Yharnam. We were able to track down the names of four artists attached to Bloodborne's macabre aesthetic; Lead Environment Artist Hikaru Wada, Senior Environment artist Marcos Domenech, Character Artist Max Puliero, and Senior Technical Character Artist Eduardo Mosena.

We'll try to hunt down more names to properly give these guys the due credit that they deserve, but in the mean-time check out our selection of concept images released throughout the game's development below the break. Enjoy!

Brainstorm's Diablo Event Unleashes A Host of Horrors and Heroes

Lennart Verhoeff

The bad-ass artistic minds behind the Brainstorm collective knock it out of the park yet again with their month-long redesign challenge, this time reinterpreting the iconic imagery, classes and titular adversary of Blizzard Entertainment's classic dungeon-crawling series Diablo. Many of the results this past week impressively (if predictably) skew across the spectrum of sci-fi action, though a majority of the pieces submitted retain the distinctive gothic-horror flavor of the original.

Brainstorm mainstay Chen Nambiarooran (previously featured for his impressive 'Darth Vader' series) returns with some downright devilish-looking creature and class designs, joined by the likes of Luis Lashido, Tomaislav Jagnijc, and Lennart Verhoeff's impressively menacing profile portraits. It's all there and more, right after the break!

Bloodborne Gameplay Trailer is Dark, Dreary and Full Of Terrors

Bloodborne is a game I've been eyeing with covetous anticipation ever since it was announced at this year's E3. The unruly brain-child of Hidetaka Miyazaki (Armored Core, Dark Souls), Bloodborne is another third-person action-RPG in the same vein as the Souls series, this time set within the walls of a labyrinthine city gripped by a demonic disease that transforms its victims into nightmarish abominations. You, a traveling demon-slayer, must plunge into the dark heart of Y'harnam and find a cure for the disease that eats away at your own life. But can you make it out alive?

Something that is starkly apparent in this trailer is the radical shift in game-play pacing between this game and the aforementioned Souls series. Whereas Demon's and Dark Souls relied on lumbering, tension-soaked hack-and-slash chipping away at a monster's enormous health bar, Bloodborne appears just as brutal though with a greater emphasis on faster feedback between you and your opponents.

It's almost like a more horror-centric take on Devil May Cry meets Vampire Hunter D meets, of course, Dark Souls. I'm sure this won't be the last time From Software wets our appetite for information before the game's March 24th release next year, so stay tuned!

The Art of Artem Shumnik

(Via)

Artem Shumnik is a Russian concept artist whose portfolio of clients and projects reveals only a fraction of his otherwise immense talent. A lead concept artist for Saber Interactive, responsible for such titles as 2007's Timeshift and Halo: Anniversary, Shumnik is also a freelance artist for the South Korean art stable Applibot. 

His penchant for dreary, snow-capped metropolises and otherworldly weirdness makes me sincerely wish that he was helming an original IP at the Milburn-based studio. Check after the break for more of his gritty urban landscapes and sci-fi oddities.